Is witch doctor image racist?

The NAACP and Salon say that Tea Party signs "often" show Pres. Obama as a witch doctor and that that is racist. I haven't seen those signs even though, as the links below demonstrate, I have been to a lot of tea parties.

Would the reverse be true: when a liberal portrays a conservative or libertarian as a witch doctor, would that be racist also?

That isn't a hypothetical questions. Here, for example, is a cartoon from a liberal Seattle Post-Intelligencer cartoonist, David Horsey:

The cartoon is making fun of African culture, is it not? But, since the target is the Bush administration, I expect that no Democrat would think it racist.

PREVIOUSLY on the related subject of Democrats and racism:

•Gov. to require racism in the financial industry
•Obama ally: "I hate white people...."
•Bill Maher explains how "real" blacks act
•Democrats move to their comfort zone
•Black students, harassed for "acting white," get $150,000
•“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
•"The city wasn't ready to hire a white police chief."
•A prominent black politician says the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.
•San Franciscans discriminate against blacks.
•"He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."
•NAACP defends racism.
•Stanford finds Democrats are racist.
•Obama nominates a racist.
•Leaders acknowledge Democrat base is racist.
•"That's just how white folks will do you." ---Barack Obama.
•Dem says Dem primary voters are racist.
•Dems accuse Bill and Hillary of racism.

PREVIOUSLY on photos, from the San Francisco area, of actual tea parties:
•Long Strange Trip: Hippies defend establishment; Tea Party protests (Jul 18)
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco and the left is not happy about it
•Collected photos of this year's San Francisco Tea Party events
•Minutemen vs. May Day protesters in San Francisco; Two arrested
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out in San Francisco's Union Square
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out on the San Francisco Peninsula
•To protest Obamacare, San Francisco holds a sick-in (Nov. 15)
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco (Oct. 15)
•Videos of the October 15 San Francisco Tea Party
•San Franciscans speak to Nancy Pelosi (Aug. 14)
•The San Francisco Tax Day Tea Party Protest in Pictures (Apr. 15)
•Farmers protest in San Jose (Nov. 21).
•Tea Party breaks out in Palo Alto (Nov. 21

Hate crimes (and anti-Semitism) in the US

In the U.S., 76% of hate crimes are directed to Jews, with Muslims a distant second with 6% of attacks.

RELATED: Yesterday, Rep. Mike McMahon (D-NY) claimed that his Republican opponent, Mike Grimm, was funded by "Jewish money." Today, as damage control, Rep. McMahon fired his communications director. Also today, Sarah Palin endorses Mike Grimm.

STILL MORE: New Showtime-funded Oliver Stone "documentary" will show "empathy" for Hitler, condemns "Jewish domination of the media."

PREVIOUSLY on anti-semitism:
•The left and its hatreds
•Democrats and anti-semitism
•Obama and anti-semitism
•Anti-semitism and the Connecticut Senate race

Wikileaks: Killing our allies?

Fox News reports:

Hundreds of Afghan lives have been put at risk by the leaking of 90,000 intelligence documents to WikiLeaks because the files identify informants working with NATO forces.

In just two hours of searching the WikiLeaks archive, The Times of London found the names of dozens of Afghans credited with providing detailed intelligence to U.S. forces. Their villages are given for identification and also, in many cases, their fathers' names.

More at Red State.

PREVIOUSLY on loyalty and treason:
•"Traitors to America and Proud of It!"
•Democrats attack their own patriotism
•More loyalty to UN than USA: What are the Democrats core beliefs?
•USS Cole attack aided by traitor
•New Obama ad mocks McCain's war injuries.
•Don't question their patriotism
•Loyalty and treason

Tea Party Anthem

Here is Krista Branch singing "I am America":

PREVIOUSLY on Tea Parties in the San Francisco area:
•Long Strange Trip: Hippies defend establishment; Tea Party protests (Jul 18)
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco and the left is not happy about it
•Collected photos of this year's San Francisco Tea Party events
•Minutemen vs. May Day protesters in San Francisco
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out in San Francisco's Union Square
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out on the San Francisco Peninsula
•3 in 10 Californians identify with tea party protests
•To protest Obamacare, San Francisco holds a sick-in (Nov. 15)
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco (Oct. 15)
•Videos of the October 15 San Francisco Tea Party
•San Franciscans speak to Nancy Pelosi (Aug. 14)
•The San Francisco Tax Day Tea Party Protest in Pictures (Apr. 15)
•Farmers protest in San Jose (Nov. 21).
•Tea Party breaks out in Palo Alto (Nov. 21)

Arizona law is working already

Illegal immigrants are fleeing Arizona even though Arizona's new law requiring enforcement of Federal immigration laws does not become effective until Thursday. Reuters reports:

"Everyone is selling up the little they have and leaving," said Villasenor, 31, who is headed for Pennsylvania. "We have no alternative. They have us cornered." . . . .

In a sign of a gathering exodus, Mexican businesses from grocers and butcher shops to diners and beauty salons have shut their doors in recent weeks as their owners and clients leave.

Hat tip: HotAir.

RELATED: Uncoverage examines the lack of outrage over the Balogna murder in the "sanctuary" city of San Francisco. Also see Uncoverage's review of how President Eisenhower succeeded in deporting illegal aliens

PREVIOUSLY on immigration:
•Obama administration overturns rule of law on immigration
•Pro-illegal immigration protesters confront Minutemen in San Francisco
•Amazing: NY Times editors thought illegal immigration was legal
•California pays for schooling of Mexicans who live in Mexico and only cross the border to go to school
•Political bias on Spanish-language TV network Univision
•British pop star denied visa to US. Should she have tried to get in illegally instead?
•Sex slave ring arrested. Pro-illegal advocates object.

PREVIOUSLY on the rule of law:
•Making voter intimidation legal
•Obama administration overturns rule of law on immigration
•Justice Scalia explains the rule of law
•Sotomayor: Obama nominates a racist
•The end of the rule of law
•Obama and the rule of law
•The AP mis-understands the rule of law

What a long strange trip its been!

In the 1960s, the hippies in San Francisco protested the establishment. In 2010, two of SF's better known ex-hippies, guitarists Bob Weir and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead, host a fundraiser for establishment politician Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and the Tea Partiers line the streets to protest them (photo courtesy of Fund47):

This protest took place July 18 in San Rafael and was organized by the Carly Fiorina for CA Senate campaign. More photos are here. A video of the protest, including a photo of Sen. Boxer's reaction has her car passes through the Tea Party is here.

PREVIOUSLY on San Francisco area tea parties:
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco and the left is not happy about it
•Collected photos of this year's San Francisco Tea Party events
•Minutemen vs. May Day protesters in San Francisco; Two arrested
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out in San Francisco's Union Square
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out on the San Francisco Peninsula
•3 in 10 Californians identify with tea party protests
•To protest Obamacare, San Francisco holds a sick-in (Nov. 15)
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco (Oct. 15)
• Videos of the October 15 San Francisco Tea Party
•San Franciscans speak to Nancy Pelosi (Aug. 14)
•The San Francisco Tax Day Tea Party Protest in Pictures (Apr. 15)
•Farmers protest in San Jose (Nov. 21).
•Tea Party breaks out in Palo Alto (Nov. 21)

What happens when the government runs your pension?

Reportedly, the senior executives at California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) were induced to make unwise investments by gifts of international travel and even condos. CA state Attorney General Jerry Brown is investigating:

In May, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown filed a civil complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court accusing Villalobos of employing fraudulent business practices, including falsely representing that he and his firm, Arvco Capital Research, had securities licenses. The complaint also alleges that Villalobos used "gifts and gratuities" to cultivate "improper relationships" with key officials at CalPERS.

"Villalobos spent tens of thousands of dollars to lavishly entertain key senior executives at CalPERS, who then influenced the board to authorize investments that generated over $40 million in commissions to Villalobos," Brown said in a statement.

The gifts allegedly included a condominium, luxury trips around the world and lucrative employment in Villalobos' firm. At a news conference, Brown, who is running for governor, said CalPERS should have applied "clearer standards of accountability and disclosure" to the lobbying that went on behind closed doors. [Emph. added]

This and other scandals came to light after CalPERS experienced huge investment losses in recent years, losses for which California taxpayers will pay dearly.

Additionally, the LA Times accuses CalPERS of being slow to release the records related to its many scandals.

PREVIOUSLY on California state government:
•Your tax dollars at work — at strip clubs
•California tilts Republican
•California steps closer to bankruptcy
•3 in 10 Californians identify with Tea Party protests
•California global warming rules to backfire
•California legislature fail
•Jerry Brown learns economics, the left objects
•Politicians take care of their own
•Californian farmers to resell state-subidized water at a profit
•California files suit laws of physics

Hate-mongering at Reuters (and elsewhere)

From a news "analysis" story written by Patricia Zengerle at Reuters:

Images such as Obama with a bone through his nose and the White House with a lawn full of watermelons are often displayed at Tea Party rallies.

Often? I have been to a lot of Tea Parties and I have never seen either. Her next sentence is one of those easy smears:

Tea party leaders say the movement is not racist but concede there are racist fringe elements in its membership.

Have you ever read a MSM story that said "Democrats say their party is not racist but concede there are racist fringe elements in its membership"? No, I didn't think so.

Newsbusters has written Reuters asking for either documention of the alleged signs or a retraction of the charge.

MORE: Last week, The New York Times published a hate-filled rant by Matt Bai claiming that Tea Party. Today, the New York Times felt the need to publish a partial correction but continues with the same general accusation:

The Political Times column last Sunday, about a generational divide over racial attitudes, erroneously linked one example of a racially charged statement to the Tea Party movement. While Tea Party supporters have been connected to a number of such statements, there is no evidence that epithets reportedly directed in March at Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, outside the Capitol, came from Tea Party members.

Power Line has more.

STILL MORE: Radio talk show host Warren Ballentine says "Tea Party ideology" is racist (and hurls a racial epithet at Juan Williams):



PREVIOUSLY on the related subject of Democrats and racism:
•Gov. to require racism in the financial industry
•Obama ally: "I hate white people...."
•Bill Maher explains how "real" blacks act
•Democrats move to their comfort zone
•Black students, harassed for "acting white," get $150,000
•“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
•"The city wasn't ready to hire a white police chief."
•A prominent black politician says the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.
•San Franciscans discriminate against blacks.
•"He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."
•NAACP defends racism.
•Stanford finds Democrats are racist.
•Obama nominates a racist.
•Leaders acknowledge Democrat base is racist.
•"That's just how white folks will do you." ---Barack Obama.
•Dem says Dem primary voters are racist.
•Dems accuse Bill and Hillary of racism.

PREVIOUSLY on photos, from the San Francisco area, of actual tea parties:
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco and the left is not happy about it
•Collected photos of this year's San Francisco Tea Party events
•Minutemen vs. May Day protesters in San Francisco; Two arrested
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out in San Francisco's Union Square
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out on the San Francisco Peninsula
•To protest Obamacare, San Francisco holds a sick-in (Nov. 15)
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco (Oct. 15)
•Videos of the October 15 San Francisco Tea Party
•San Franciscans speak to Nancy Pelosi (Aug. 14)
•The San Francisco Tax Day Tea Party Protest in Pictures (Apr. 15)
•Farmers protest in San Jose (Nov. 21).
•Tea Party breaks out in Palo Alto (Nov. 21

What happens at a Tea Party Meeting?

They talk about the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and how it relates to what Pres. Obama is doing now. Here, in two parts, is a short (17 min.) video presentation by Leonard Stone given at a meeting of MyLiberty, the official Tea Party Patriot group of San Mateo County, California. The lecture explores the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence, how those grievances influenced the writing of the Constitution, and how it relates to what Pres. Obama is doing now.

The first part of the video discusses the first two of the grievances in the Declaration, what motivated them, and how they are relevant today:

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

The differences between then and now are obvious. Obama is not the king of England, for example. However, the similarities, such as are playing out in Louisiana and Arizona, are also, as Mr. Stone makes plain, striking.

The second half of the lecture addresses the next four grievances:

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

The Founding Fathers experienced what it was like to live under an oppressive government and they clearly designed the US Constitution in response to those governmental abuses. This is why the Progressive Movement found the Constitution to be an obstacle and why we need to continue to defend the Constitution against today's progressives.

PREVIOUSLY on America's Founding Fathers and their relevance to today:
•From Rousseau to Al Gore: the rise of the declinists
•Hamilton vs. Jefferson on the French Revolution
•Disaster and conspiracy theorists: from Alexander Hamilton to today
•Fatherless children and their support for centralized government: from Hamilton to Obama
•Hamilton vs. Jefferson on monarchs
•Fear and delusion among liberals: from Alexander Hamilton to Rosie O'Donnell

Bond market at standstill because of Dodd-Frank bill

Parts of the bond market have shut down in response to the Dodd-Frank bill. Among the consequences, consumers may find mortgages and auto loans harder to find while some businesses may be unable to obtain the funds they need to expand and hire new workers. The Wall Street Journal reports (Hat tip: Greg Mankiw):

There have been no new asset-backed bonds put on sale this week, in stark contrast to last week, when $3 billion of issues were sold. Market participants say the new law is partly behind the slowdown.

"We are at a standstill right now," said Bingham McCutchen partner Ed Gainor, who specializes in asset-backed securities.

Several companies are shelving their bond offerings "indefinitely," according to Tom Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum, which represents the market for bonds backed by assets such as auto loans and credit cards. He said he knew of three offerings scheduled for coming weeks that are now on hold. [Emph. added]

The reason for this is that the new law puts the companies, such as Moody's and S&P, that offer credit ratings in an untenable position:

The new law will make ratings firms liable for the quality of their ratings decisions, effective immediately. The companies say that, until they get a better understanding of their legal exposure, they are refusing to let bond issuers use their ratings.

That is important because some bonds, notably those that are made up of consumer loans, are required by law to include ratings in their official documentation. That means new bond sales in the $1.4 trillion market for mortgages, autos, student loans and credit cards could effectively shut down.

Previously, credit ratings were considered merely opinions. The Dodd-Frank law apparently changes that to make ratings companies legally liable for their ratings "effective immediately." Consequently:

Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings are all refusing to allow their ratings to be used in documentation for new bond sales.

Congress seems uninterested in the damage it does and the public seems to be noticing.

RELATED:The Truly Bizzare “Logic” of Dodd-Frank’s Shareholder Empowerment Provisions (Hat tip: Instapundit)

PREVIOUSLY on the Dodd-Frank bill:
•Gov. to require racism in the financial industry

PREVIOUSLY on the subject of Barney Frank:
•Rep. Barney Frank meddles in mortgages, again
•Living in a fantasy world, III
•How we got in this economic mess
•Those who do not learn from history

PREVIOUSLY on the subject of Obamanomics and how it differs from economics:
•Why unemployment insurance must be extended (illustrated)
•Obamanomics still failing, Washington Post discovers
•Russia goes supply-side
•Study: Liberals are economically illiterate
•Obama's health care and economic policies explained
•Obama modeling US economy after Europe's
•Irresponsibility pays!
• Obamanomics prolonging the recession
•US Aaa bond rating threatened by Obama's budget says Moody's
•Obamanomics illustrated II
•How Dems are prolonging the recession
•How Obamanomics destroys jobs
•Obamanomics illustrated
•Deficits: Obama goes where no man has gone before (illustration)
•How to raise the standard of living
•Obama's anti-intellectual economic theory
•Obamanomics and the test of science
•Obamacare may raise insurance costs by 54%
•Harvard economist explains why Obamacare will raise premiums
•HHS says Obamacare will cause costs to go up and cause employers to drop coverage

Obamanomics, explained

Michael Ramirez explains Obama's economic reasoning:

PREVIOUSLY on the subject of Obamanomics and how it differs from economics:
•Obamanomics still failing, Washington Post discovers
•Russia goes supply-side
•Study: Liberals are economically illiterate
•Obama's health care and economic policies explained
•Obama modeling US economy after Europe's
•Irresponsibility pays!
• Obamanomics prolonging the recession
•US Aaa bond rating threatened by Obama's budget says Moody's
•Obamanomics illustrated II
•How Dems are prolonging the recession
•How Obamanomics destroys jobs
•Obamanomics illustrated
•Deficits: Obama goes where no man has gone before (illustration)
•How to raise the standard of living
•Obama's anti-intellectual economic theory
•Obamanomics and the test of science
•Obamacare may raise insurance costs by 54%
•Harvard economist explains why Obamacare will raise premiums
•HHS says Obamacare will cause costs to go up and cause employers to drop coverage

Hezbollah targets schools and hospitals for destruction

Israel has taken the unusual step of revealing its intel showing Hezbollah's military plans. Naturally, Hezbollah intends that any future war with Israel will inflict maximum casualties on civilians in Lebanon. In the Wall Street Journal, Stephen P. Cohen writes:

[Israel has] broadcast and publicized highly detailed intelligence maps and aerial photographs depicting exactly where Hezbollah constructs and maintains missile and rocket caches, as well as command centers.

These maps show that Hezbollah's bases are located in villages in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border, in very close proximity to schools and hospitals. Its weapons are aimed at Israeli cities and civilian targets. If these missiles were to be launched, Israel would be required to defend its population by destroying the missile emplacements and depots. . . . .

The Hezbollah plan of deployment means that any Israeli military response to a massive missile attack on its civilian population will involve civilian casualties in Lebanon. Because of its deliberate placement of these weapons, Hezbollah is condemning Shiite villages to destruction. [Emph. added]

You may remember that Israel invaded invaded Lebanon four years ago in an ill-managed attack on Hezbollah in response to Hezballah's kidnapping of two Israelis. That war was ended by United Nations resolution 1701 which "imposed a blockade on weapons intended for Hezbollah and banned it from operating near the Israeli border." A UN "peacekeeping" force of 11,000 troops was sent to enforce the resolution. Now, with Israel's release of its intelligence, the UN's failure to enforce its resolution will be exposed.

PREVIOUSLY on the UN:
•UN humanitarian hypocrisy
•Eco-hypocrisy at the UN Climate Change conference
•Global warming's riches

PREVIOUSLY on the almost related subject of Democrats and anti-semitism:
•Democrat blames "New York money people" for Bush's support of Israel
•Jimmy Carter endorses terrorism
•The party of hate: anti-semitism in the 2006 Virginia Senate race
•To oppose Joe Lieberman, Democrats call on their most prominent anti-semites

Al Gore was trained by Bill Clinton

It is amazing how often preachers and politicians get caught in sex scandals and, according to the National Enquirer, Al Gore, archbishop of global warming, is no exception as two more accusers appear:

The ENQUIRER reports in an exclusive bombshell exclusive that police have investigated charges from TWO MORE WOMEN who claimed they were abused by former VP AL GORE!

The allegations come hot on the heels of an ongoing Portland, Ore., police investigation that reopened after The ENQUIRER exclusively revealed accusations by a licensed massage therapist who says Gore groped her in 2006.

Hat tip: Instapundit.

PREVIOUSLY on the dishonesty and hypocrisy of environmentalists:
•Environmentalists more likely to cheat: being a liberal means not having to follow the rules
•The ever-increasing energy use of Al Gore's mansion

PREVIOUSLY on global warming and its profiteers:
•Ethanol subsidies in perspective
•Global warming whitewash: Penn State and the Michael Mann
•Global warming's profiteers
•Penn State to investigate its global warmist Mann, or not
•Climategate: laws were broken
•The collapse of the UN IPCC's credibility
•Yet another UN IPCC Glacier-gate scandal
•UN IPCC claims of melting Himalayan glaciers exposed as fraud
•UN IPCC responds to Climategate with wild accusations
•Surprise: EU's carbon trading riddled with fraud
•Ma'am Sen. Boxer for and against climate whistleblowers.

Obama and the stifling of dissent

Reuel Marc Gerecht discusses his visit in 2000 to Peshawar in the Pakistan's Northwest frontier:

What I liked best about the place was how easy it was to have conversations about Islam. Westernized businessmen and officials, journalists, imams from neighborhood mosques, the ordinary faithful after prayers, rug merchants, taxi drivers, soldiers, and die-hard Islamic militants pumping iron in god-awful gyms would all proffer their opinions about the faith, America, Christianity, Jews, and Osama bin Laden (most applauded the man). Pakistanis become intellectually serious pretty quickly. And even among the hesitant, it didn't take that long before you could have an energetic conversation about what many Westerners would describe as sensitive issues. After the attack on the USS Cole in Aden in October 2000, everyone there knew that bin Laden and the Taliban’s leader Mullah Omar had found some common ground. By and large, the Peshawaris saw jihad against the United States as understandable and acceptable, and those who agreed, and those who didn’t, weren’t offended when an American asked them about the earthly manifestations of their faith.

He contrasts the free and easy conversations he had in Pakistan to the stifled conversations of Obama's Washington:

It’s an odd situation: Throughout the greater Middle East, frank discussions about Islam are easier to have than they are in Washington, D.C.—especially among government officials. Ask someone in the Obama administration about jihad and, unless the official knows the conversation is off the record—and sometimes even if it is off the record—that official likely will become a bit panicked, nonplussed, and try to change the subject.

It’s been 18 months since Mr. Obama became president; thirteen months since he gave his Cairo speech and rolled out his “New Beginning” approach to the Muslim world. Primary result: In the nation’s capital, conversations have become boring, lightweight, and sometimes inane.

PREVIOUSLY on Pres. Obama's contributions to American thought:
•Obama: a child's view of the world
•Obama: ignorance is knowledge
•Obama and constitutional law
•Obama as demogogue

Venezuela: Forward to the past

In what is perceived as a shift from socialism to communism, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has ordered the building of communes. Reuters reports:

"We're talking about government by the people," said Ulises Daal, a pro-Chavez parliament deputy and one of the main promoters of the project. He says the legislative plan to set up self-sustaining, self-governing "socialist communes" builds on the existence of some 36,000 Chavez-inspired "communal councils" that already dot the country.

Daal said 214 communes were already "under construction". Some have introduced barter markets and their own currencies. . . . .

Opponents single out the Communes Law's repeated references to "social" and "collective" ownership.

The problems are obvious enough: "Barter markets" are as ancient and primitive as one can get. "Self-sustaining" communes give up all the economic advantages of specialization of labor. Most importantly, of course, communism fails to understand human nature and specifically human motivations.

With examples ranging from Hippie communes to Israel's Kubbutzim to Lenin, Stalin, and Mao's grander experiments, history has shown that communes don't work. According to Reuters, Venezuela's communes appear no different:

Neither ideological nor productive fervour were much visible at the Cacique Tiuna Commune, which boasts a plastics plant, a vegetable garden, a "socialist" carpentry shop and a plant nursery.

During a visit last week, the plastics plant was idled, the irrigated garden was awaiting "refinancing" to start and at the carpentry shop only a handful of labourers worked under the stern gaze of a mural depicting the historic Indian chief Tiuna after which the commune is named.

Chavez is reportedly unpopular in Venezuela and it might benefit the Venezuelans if he was removed from office but that seems unlikely to happen soon.

PREVIOUSLY on communism:
•China sentences American for industrial spying
•In San Francisco, communists still think fondly of the Soviet revolution
•The communist suicide-bomber
•Venezuela's other major export: organized crime
•Communist holocausts
•Chavez closes another opposition TV station
•Why is Alger Hiss' guilt such a threat to the liberal vision?
•In Poland, the former communist country celebrates Ronald Reagan.
•Chavez takes from the poor to give to....

In Oakland, CA, civilization is collapsing

Riots, looting, police layoffs, and calls for racial murders: Uncoverage.net has the story.

California tilts Republican

SurveyUSA reports that Republicans are leading in California in both the Senate and Governor races:

In an election for Governor of California today, 07/12/10, Republican Meg Whitman edges Democrat Jerry Brown 46% to 39%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KABC-TV Los Angeles, KPIX-TV San Francisco, KGTV-TV San Diego, and KFSN-TV Fresno. . . . .

In the race for United States Senate, Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer and Republican Carly Fiorina are effectively even. Fiorina 47%, Boxer 45%, within the survey's theoretical margin of sampling error.

Although the Senate race is within the poll's margin of error, this is continues a long trend of rising numbers for Carly Fiorina and the first time that Fiorina has shown a lead, however small, over Boxer. Any number below 50% is a bad sign for an incumbent.

Concerned for Sen. Boxer's future, VP Biden held a fundraiser for her last Thursday in Atherton, CA, on the San Francisco Peninsula. I wasn't there but Larry from San Francisco was and he reports on the protests organized by Carly Fiorina for CA:

A high definition version of the video is here. A slide show on the protest is here.

PREVIOUSLY on the always outrageous Sen. Boxer:
•Even global warmists like Senator Boxer are backing away from IPCC
•Ma'am Sen. Boxer for and against climate whistleblowers.
•Will Boxer go the way of Coakley?: CA Senate race tightens (Jan. 2010)
•Boxer and Kerry campaign for cap-and-tax
•Cap and tax in the US Senate: a who's who of the villains and their committees
•Boxer: Never trust anyone who is well dressed

PREVIOUSLY on San Francisco area tea parties:
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco and the left is not happy about it
•Collected photos of this year's San Francisco Tea Party events
•Minutemen vs. May Day protesters in San Francisco; Two arrested
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out in San Francisco's Union Square
•A tax day Tea Party breaks out on the San Francisco Peninsula
•3 in 10 Californians identify with tea party protests
•To protest Obamacare, San Francisco holds a sick-in (Nov. 15)
•A Tea Party greets Obama in San Francisco (Oct. 15)
• Videos of the October 15 San Francisco Tea Party
•San Franciscans speak to Nancy Pelosi (Aug. 14)
•The San Francisco Tax Day Tea Party Protest in Pictures (Apr. 15)
•Farmers protest in San Jose (Nov. 21).
•Tea Party breaks out in Palo Alto (Nov. 21

Newsmedia malpractice

Brent Bozell remembers some of the dishonest reporting accompanying Sonia Sotomayor's nominations to the Supreme Court:

Last year, when Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, CBS anchor Katie Couric said labeling her "won't be easy." CBS reporter Wyatt Andrews found "no clear ideology" in her public record. This week, the Washington Post embarrassed themselves with a front-page story claiming "Obama has not chosen outspoken liberals in either of his first two opportunities to influence the makeup of the court."

Of course, over the last year, she has, as the LA Times reports, "prov[ed] herself to be a reliable liberal vote on the Supreme Court."

For more examples of newsmedia misrepresenting Sotomayor, consider NPR from July, 2009:

Analysts see Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a moderate whose decisions in criminal cases rarely differ from those of her colleagues on the federal bench. Some say her experience as a prosecutor and her record on the bench might make her more conservative than Justice David Souter on criminal justice issues. [Emph. added]

E. J. Dionne Jr. also adopted the Sotomayor-is-a-moderate spin in his opinion column:

And even though they should support her confirmation, liberals would be foolish to embrace Sotomayor as one of their own because her record is clearly that of a moderate.

PREVIOUSLY on the Obama and the rule of law:
•Making voter intimidation legal
•Obama administration overturns rule of law on immigration
•Justice Scalia explains the rule of law
•Sotomayor: Obama nominates a racist
•The end of the rule of law
•Obama and the rule of law
•The AP mis-understands the rule of law

Bob Hope's greatest movie line

Partial transcript:

Geoff Montgomery (Richard Carlson): It's worse than horrible because a zombie has no will of his own. You see them sometimes walking around blindly with dead eyes, following orders, not knowing what they do, not caring.
Larry Lawrence (Bob Hope): You mean like Democrats?

Of course, some of the establishment Republicans are zombies too.

Hat tip: Rob H.

PREVIOUSLY on the humorous side of our present predicament:
•If Pres. Obama was "amused" by the tea parties....
•Comedy in the tragedy
•Obamacare, illustrated
•Seeing the humor in a disaster
•Obamacare and trillions of dollars of unfunded mandates
•Where has the laughter gone?

Gov. to require racism in the financial industry

At RealClearMarkers, Diana Furchtgott-Roth reports on the financial regulation bill currently proceeding through Congress:

What one finds when reading congressional legislation is invariably surprising. Take the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, for instance, . . . . I was searching the bill for a provision about derivatives. What did I find but Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government. [Emph. add]

RTWT. Hat tip: GatewayPundit.

PREVIOUSLY on the subject of Democrats and racism:
•Obama ally: "I hate white people...."
•Bill Maher explains how "real" blacks act
•Democrats move to their comfort zone
•Black students, harassed for "acting white," get $150,000
•“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
•"The city wasn't ready to hire a white police chief."
•A prominent black politician says the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.
•San Franciscans discriminate against blacks.
•"He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."
•NAACP defends racism.
•Stanford finds Democrats are racist.
•Obama nominates a racist.
•Leaders acknowledge Democrat base is racist.
•"That's just how white folks will do you." ---Barack Obama.
•Dem says Dem primary voters are racist.
•Dems accuse Bill and Hillary of racism.

Obamanomics still failing, Washington Post discovers

Fareed Zakaria, a columnist for the Washington Post and Editor of the left-liberal Newsweek magazine, was wondering why, despite the great and wonderful Obama stimulus package, businesses still were not investing or expanding. He talked to some businessmen (hat tip: Rush):

[T]hey kept talking about politics, about the uncertainty surrounding regulations and taxes. Some have even begun to speak out publicly. Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, complained Friday that government was not in sync with entrepreneurs. The Business Roundtable, which had supported the Obama administration, has begun to complain about the myriad laws and regulations being cooked up in Washington.

One CEO told me, "Almost every agency we deal with has announced some expansion of its authority, which naturally makes me concerned about what's in store for us for the future." Another pointed out that between the health-care bill, financial reform and possibly cap-and-trade, his company had lawyers working day and night to figure out the implications of all these new regulations. [Emph. added]

So, in what must have been shocking news at the Washington Post, he found that it is Obama's policies which are prolonging the recession. The businessmen told him this despite the fact that the businessmen he chose to talk to were mostly liberal:

Most of the business leaders I spoke to had voted for Barack Obama. They still admire him. Those who had met him thought he was unusually smart. But all think he is, at his core, anti-business. [Emph. added]

Another telling point is this. Zakaria talked about Obamanomics "to a series of business leaders, all of whom were expansive on the topic yet did not want to be quoted by name, for fear of offending people in Washington." [Emph. added] The Obama administration, with design for ever increasing power, creates fear.

In his conclusion, Zakaria amazingly seems to miss the point entirely:

Obama needs to outline a growth and competitiveness agenda that is compelling to the business community. This might sound like psychology more than economics, . . . . .

No, Mr. Zakaria, the problem is not "psychology." Obamacare, Cap-and-Tax, and financial reform are not "psychological" issues. Outside of the beltway, in the world of business, those policies increase risks and add real costs.

PREVIOUSLY on the subject of Obamanomics and how it differs from economics:
•Russia goes supply-side
•Study: Liberals are economically illiterate
•Obama's health care and economic policies explained
•Obama modeling US economy after Europe's
•Irresponsibility pays!
• Obamanomics prolonging the recession
•US Aaa bond rating threatened by Obama's budget says Moody's
•Obamanomics illustrated II
•How Dems are prolonging the recession
•How Obamanomics destroys jobs
•Obamanomics illustrated
•Deficits: Obama goes where no man has gone before (illustration)
•How to raise the standard of living
•Obama's anti-intellectual economic theory
•Obamanomics and the test of science
•Obamacare may raise insurance costs by 54%
•Harvard economist explains why Obamacare will raise premiums
•HHS says Obamacare will cause costs to go up and cause employers to drop coverage

Obama ally: "I hate white people...."

In 2008, the New Black Panthers endorsed Obama for President. Here is the leader of Philadelphia's New Black Panthers:



Transcript:

King Samir Shabazz, leader of Philadelphia New Black Panthers: I hate white people. All of them. Every last iota of a cracker I hate him. . . . . We didn’t come out here to play. There is to much serious business going on in your black community to be sliding through south street with white, dirty cracker whores on your arms. . . . . What’s a matter with you black man, you got a doomsday with a white woman on your arm. Your enemy can not make you free fool. You want freedom you’re going to have to kill some crackers. You’re going to have to kill some of their babies. [Emph. added]

Their support of Obama in 2008 does seem to have provided returns. Even though Shabazz and his cohorts lost by default a voter intimidation lawsuit, the Obama Justice department dropped the case before sentencing. It pays to have friends in high places.

UPDATE: Three former DoJ officials have come forward in support of J. Christian Adams, the DoJ attorney who resigned in protest over the dismissal of the voter intimidation lawsuit. (Hat tip: Instapundit)

PREVIOUSLY on the subject of racism on the left:
•Bill Maher explains how "real" blacks act
•Democrats move to their comfort zone
•Black students, harassed for "acting white," get $150,000
•“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
•"The city wasn't ready to hire a white police chief."
•A prominent black politician says the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.
•San Franciscans discriminate against blacks.
•"He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."
•NAACP defends racism.
•Stanford finds Democrats are racist.
•Obama nominates a racist.
•Leaders acknowledge Democrat base is racist.
•"That's just how white folks will do you." ---Barack Obama.
•Dem says Dem primary voters are racist.
•Dems accuse Bill and Hillary of racism.

At Cox Newspapers, they took this story seriously

On his show, Rush Limbaugh is highlighting the ridiculousness of a Cox Newspapers story on drilling in the Gulf. The opening paragraph states:

Despite the warnings of Dick Cheney, George Will, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, the Russians are not drilling for oil off Cuba. Neither are the Chinese. In fact, no one — not even Cuba — is drilling for oil off Cuba.

The reporter, Christine Stapleton, goes through her list of villians, Rush, Cheney, and Fox News, and declares them all wrong. Then, if you read to the fourth paragraph, she admits that

Companies from at least 10 other countries, including Russia and China, are negotiating or already have signed lease deals to drill off Cuba.

That sentence might call for an Emily Litella moment. But, apparently reporter Stapleton is trying to make a Clintonesque distinction between "is drilling" and "has signed a lease deal to drill" and using that distinction to declare her chosen villains wrong. As Bill Clinton, the moral compass of the Democratic party, once said. "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

If newspapers had editors, they would catch these things before they were published.

PREVIOUSLY on news reporters and their fantasy worlds:
•How reporters avoid reality
•News reporters and the liberal echo chamber in action
•Salon has a sexual fantasy about Palin as a dominatrix
•If only hate could change false to true
•Ignorance at McClatchy Newspapers
•Faking the news
•University study finds Fox more fair and balanced than ABC/CBS/NBC
•News media credibility at lowest level since polling began
•Living in a Fantasy World, II
•17% of US voters claim news media unbiased

Ethanol subsidies in perspective

At the Corner, Kevin D. Williamson makes some observations on ethanol subsidies:

A little perspective:

BP's oil-spill cleanup bill, so far: $3.2 billion

Money BP is setting aside for the total bill: $20 billion

Annual cost of U.S. ethanol subsidies: $5 billion

Ethanol subsidies going to BP this year: $600 million

So, a mere four years of the environmentally-questionable and politically-driven ethanol subsidies cost the US economy more than the entire estimated cost of the BP oil spill.

Hat tip: Power Line

PREVIOUSLY on the environment and politics:
•Global warming whitewash: Penn State and the Michael Mann
•Study: Environmentalists more likely to "cheat" and "steal"
•Penn State to investigate its global warmist Mann, or not
•Climategate: laws were broken
•The collapse of the UN IPCC's credibility
•Yet another UN IPCC Glacier-gate scandal
•UN IPCC claims of melting Himalayan glaciers exposed as fraud
•UN IPCC responds to Climategate with wild accusations
•Surprise: EU's carbon trading riddled with fraud
•Ma'am Sen. Boxer for and against climate whistleblowers.

China sentences American for industrial spying

China has tortured and sentenced to 8 years in prison a naturalized American citizen because he gather information on China's oil industry even though, according to the defense, most countries consider the same information to be public. The AP reports:

An American geologist held by Chinese state security agents who stubbed lit cigarettes on his arms was sentenced to eight years in prison Monday for gathering data on China's oil industry — a case that highlights the government's use of vague secrets laws to restrict business information. . . . .

Xue's sentence punctuates a case that has dragged on for more than two-and-a-half years and is likely to alarm foreign businesses unsure when normal business activities elsewhere might conflict with China's vague state security laws.

Chinese officials have wide authority to classify information as state secrets. Draft regulations released by the government in April said business secrets of major state companies qualify as state secrets. . . . .

Like IHS, many multinationals have come to rely on people like Xue to run their China operations. Another China-born foreign national, Australian Stern Hu who worked for the global mining firm Rio Tinto, was sentenced in March to 10 years for bribery and infringing trade secrets that dealt with iron ore sales to Chinese companies. . . . .

During Xue's closed-door trial, which ran over three dates last July and in December, the court document said he defended himself, arguing that the information he gathered "is data that the oil sector in countries around the world make public."

David Rowley, Xue's thesis adviser at University of Chicago and a geologist, said that the location and seismic and other data of oil wells is commonly available and could not compromise Chinese security since the government controls access.

In the communist tradition, courts do not exist to protect the rights of individuals. They exist to enforce the whims of the communist political leaders. The American left, with its talk of a "living constitution" that bends to their will, wants America's courts to more like Chinese ones.

PREVIOUSLY on the rule of law:
•Kagan: politics trumps law
•Justice Scalia explains the rule of law
•Obama administration overturns rule of law on immigration
•The end of the rule of law
•Obama and the rule of law
•The AP mis-understands the rule of law

Penn State and the Michael Mann whitewash

Global warming advocate Michael Mann was cleared by the Penn State committee charged with investigating his conduct. In light of all the revelations in the ClimateGate e-mails, this raises the question of what kind of investigation was conducted. Penn State's official report reveals it to have been a very shallow one. The report even admits to ignoring a respected scientist when he told them their conclusions were wrong. Consider the documents that the Penn State committee's report (PDF) says were used:

Documents available to the Investigatory Committee:
· 376 files containing emails stolen from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia and originally reviewed by the Inquiry Committee
· Documents collected by the Inquiry Committee
· Documents provided by Dr. Mann at both the Inquiry and Investigation phases
· Penn State University's RA-IO Inquiry Report
· House of Commons Report HC387-I, March 31,2010
· National Academy of Science letter titled, "Climate Change and the Integrity of Science" that was published in Science magazine on May 7, 2010 Information on the peer review process for the National Science Foundation (NSF)
· Department of Energy's Guide to Financial Assistance
· Information on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's peer review process
· Information regarding the percentage of NSF proposals funded
· Dr. Michael Mann's curriculum vitae

While Mann's famous hockey stick curve was exposed as false by both the National Academy of Sciences report and the Wegman committee report (PDF), the Penn State committee consulted neither. How could Penn State investigate whether the errors in Mann's work were honest mistakes or misconduct if they don't even know what those mistakes were? They can't.

Here is the schedule of interviews as listed in the committee's report:

April 12, 2010: Dr. William Easterling, Dean, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University

April 14, 2010: Dr. Michael Mann, Professor, Department of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University

April 20, 2010: Dr. William Curry, Senior Scientist, Geology and Geophysics Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

April 20, 2010: Dr. Jerry McManus, Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University

May 5, 2010: Dr. Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Observe what is missing: Penn State did not interview either McIntyre or McKitrick who are the two people most familiar with Mann's faulty science and with Mann's efforts to hide and disguise his mistakes.

During their "investigation" of Michael Mann, a Penn State committee interviewed M.I.T. Professor Richard Lindzen who holds the Alfred P. Sloan char in M.I.T.'s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts. The committee's report (PDF) summarizes Prof. Lindzen's astonishment at how they were "investigating":

When told that the first three allegations against Dr. Mann were dismissed at the inquiry stage of the RA-lO process, Dr. Lindzen's response was: "It's thoroughly amazing. I mean these are issues that he explicitly stated in the emails. I'm wondering what's going on?" . . . .

The Investigatory Committee members did not respond to Dr. Lindzen's statement. Instead, Dr. Lindzen's attention was directed to the fourth allegation, and it was explained to him that this is the allegation which the Investigatory Committee is charged to address. [Emph. added]

So they could have asked Prof. Lindzen what they should have been investigating but they didn't. They ignored him. Lindzen concluded, quite reasonably it seems, that the investigation was just a "whitewash." I predicted as much last year.

WELCOME to readers of AmericanThinker.

PREVIOUSLY on climategate/warmergate and related scandals:
•Penn State to investigate its global warmist Mann, or not
•Climategate: laws were broken
•The collapse of the UN IPCC's credibility
•Yet another UN IPCC Glacier-gate scandal
•UN IPCC claims of melting Himalayan glaciers exposed as fraud
•UN IPCC responds to Climategate with wild accusations
•Surprise: EU's carbon trading riddled with fraud
•Ma'am Sen. Boxer for and against climate whistleblowers.
•Climate alarmist Phil Jones to step down pending review
•Why Penn State's investigation of its global warmist will go nowhere
•Former boss calls James Hansen call an embarrassment to NASA
•NASA's global warming scientists caught hyping false data